Yep, I'm a winner!

Today I got this in the mail:


I love winning stuff :)

I won it on a blog giveaway from http://mindysscrapbookpages.blogspot.com

It's a new blog (started by a high school friend) dedicated to all things scrapbooking.

You should check it out.

Thanks, Mindy!

Vote For JESSICA!

If you haven't yet voted on seriously so blessed's makeover finalists, go vote for Jessica!

Her husband, Andy, is deployed with Ben to Afghanistan. She totally deserves to win!

Vizi(N)o

Last summer when my sister moved back from England forcing me to give her back her tv, Ben and I went out and bought a new one. A 32" Vizio from Costco. It was great at first. But then every once in awhile it would get vertical red lines through the picture. They wouldn't last very long and they really only appeared about once a week at first. We ignored it for awhile thinking the lines would go away or thinking maybe it was actually the satellite causing the problem. But then the lines became more frequent and included green along with the original red. And on occassion a horizontal break with the top half faded out would appear on screen. So a couple of weeks before Ben's deployment we gave in and called Vizio's Tech Support (the 90 day Costco return window had ended a few weeks before the appearance of the first of the vertical lines). After describing the problem in detail, a transfer to a "level 2" support person, more agnozingly painful explanations of the problem, a couple of more transfers, an hour on hold, and instructions to unplug, wait 45 seconds, and then plug the tv back in, the geniuses at Vizio deduced since they had "never" encountered this problem before, there was in fact no problem with our television and the issue most likely lie with our satellite receiver. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. Oh, but we were instructed to call back if the problem persisted.

So since the problem continued to be intermittant (although becoming more and more frequent) we put up with it. However, by this September the screen never went back to normal. So while Ben was home on leave, he got to call Vizio again, and go through the whole infuriating tech support rigamaroll AGAIN. This time Vizio decides to send a tech support person to repair our tv. A week later tech support comes, spends an hour and a half fiddling with the set and decides he has NO idea what is wrong with the stupid tv. He reports to Vizio, they send a box for us to ship the tv back to them in, and then we wait for them to receive and process the shipment before they send us a new one. No wait, not a new one, a REFURBISHED one. So approximately 2 weeks after shipping off the original (7 months after our first complaint to tech support; 5 weeks after our second complaint to tech support; 1 year since our original purchase) we get a replacement television that someone else has already sent back because it didn't work properly. Great.

So guess what people! Approximately 16 days ago I hooked up the replacement tv and it took a whole TEN DAYS before IT went on the fritz. What a record of excellence.

I called Vizio today. Ugh. They are going to take this replacement back and send me a new replacement. An actual NEW replacement, thank goodness. But at this point, I just want my money back.

Long story, short: Don't go with Vizio; fork over the extra $150+ for a better (read different) brand.

Unfriended

Have you ever been 'unfriended' on facebook? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I just was. I'm not positive why, but I have a pretty good idea it was because of this:



At first I was a little hurt - we became friends in middle school! - but we haven't spoken since high school and our lives have taken very different paths. Then again, that's what facebook is all about - keeping in touch with people you haven't seen in forever.

I must have really ticked him off when I started inviting people on facebook to join the cause Protect Marriage: One Man, One Woman. But I didn't invite him (I'm not that insensitive) . . . he must have read about it on the news feed . . .

Oh well. This isn't the first time I've lost friends for my beliefs. And even though I can't really call California 'home' any more, this cause means too much to me to stay quiet. If any of my readers do live in California and are registered to vote there, I encourage you to VOTE YES ON PROP 8! If you need more incentive than that, or you have no idea what I'm talking about, here are a few websites you should take a look at:

www.protectmarriage.com

http://preservingmarriage.blogspot.com

www.yesonproposition8.com

and an article that applies to my particular situation:

Disagree but don't be unkind

Orson Scott Card said it way better than I could have. Shocker.

Say Farewell to the Magnum

With great sadness I am announcing that we put Ben's magnum up for sale today. Unfortunately Ben won't be able to take his car with him to Afghanistan, so no use keeping it around. It's been a good car for the year we've had it, and other than getting 3 flat tires in the space of a few months it hasn't given us any trouble. If you or anyone you know is interested, you can see our ad here. BTW all 4 tires are pretty much brand new :)